Great Britain: Department for Constitutional Affairs
Published: 2006-05-24
Total Pages: 340
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This Command Paper brings together the Draft Legal Services Bill, explanatory notes and Regulatory Impact Assessment. The Bill sets out its' objective to establish the Legal Services Board and its various functions. The Bill itself contains 159 clauses and 15 schedules. The parts of the Bill can be set out as follows: Part 1: The Regulatory Objectives, sets out 7 regulatory objectives of the regulators, which guides the Legal Services Board; Part 2: The Legal Services Board, sets out the structure and functions of the Board; Part 3: Reserved Legal Activities, lists and defines the reserved legal activities, and explains who is entitled to carry out these activities, and the penalties for those not entitled; Part 4: Regulation of Approved Regulators, sets out the general duties of approved regulators, and the powers that the Board has to ensure that these are being carried out; Part 5: Alternative Business Structures, makes provision for new business structures in legal services; Part 6: Legal Complaints, establishes an independent complaints handling body called the Office for Legal Complaints (OLC); Part 7: Financial Provisions, sets out arrangements for the funding of both the Board and the Office for Legal Complaints; Part 7: Miscellaneous and General Provisions makes provision for any guidance to be produced by the Board, and allows the Board to enter into voluntary arrangements. The Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) sets out the rationale for reform of the regulation of legal services.